What It Means To Be A Family
by plasticdoll2
Summary: A story revolving around Bruce and his sons, exploring the familiar yet intricate familial relations. A universe in which he is not Batman and yet, ended up adopting the boys. Warning: Spanking in later chapters but it is not the main point of the story.


**Hey Guys.**

 **Just a word of warning: This story will probably contain spanking later on. But the story doesn't revolve around it.**

* * *

Dick lowly whistled some random song as he trotted down the stairs.

'Why are you in such a good mood Dick-head?' If Jason was curious about the response, he didn't let it show on his face.

'He is going to ask Camille out tonight because Tom told him that she is interested in her.' Tim quickly chimed in. He was willing to do quite a bit to earn brownie points with his elder brother.

'Thanks Timmy.' Dick rolled his eyes at the kid. 'I thought we were beyond you hero-worshipping Jason when you became a teenager last week.'

Tim threw him an apologetic look, making Dick smile at him. He couldn't stay mad at his brothers and his reaction had only been a façade anyway.

He wanted to share the news with Jason as soon he had heard it from his best-friend last night, who had heard it from his friend/neighbor, Jess who was Camille's friend. But Jason had gone to bed early and Timmy was looking bored so Dick decided to regale him with tales of his romantic life or lack thereof. But things were about to kick off tonight…again.

'Way to go Dickie.' Jason raised his hand to high-five his brother across the table.

'I have never heard of this girl Camille.' Bruce cleared his throat to gain his eldest son's attention.

'Congratulations Dick, again. Your news brought dad back to the land of the living.' Jason guffawed at his own joke while his target merely rolled his eyes.

Dick snorted as jokes aimed at Bruce's nocturnal tendencies were a regular fixture at the breakfast table.

'Umm, she is a junior like me. I don't know what else to tell ya…' Dick trailed off awkwardly.

'She is hot…smoking! Definitely not a prude.' Jason gladly supplied.

Bruce fixated a glare at his second eldest son as Tim giggled at his remarks.

'That's enough Jason. Thank you.'

Jason shrugged unrepentantly and took a huge bite out of the apple in his hand.

'Where's the demon brat?'

'Master _Damian_ had a bit of wardrobe malfunction. He will be here in just about a minute or so.' Alfred said as he poured some more coffee in Bruce's mug.

The butler was quite accurate in his prediction as one minute later, the eleven-years-old haughtily climbed down the stairs.

'Good morning, Father. Richard, Drake.' Dick had practically cried the first time Damian had addressed him as Richard instead of Grayson.

'Good morning to you too brat.' Jason smirked.

'Todd.' Damian nodded dismissively.

'Damian, be quick. I am dropping you boys off today.' Bruce declared out of nowhere.

'What?!' Two voices yelled at the same time.

'You are a cause of huge embarrassment, Bruce.' Jason dramatically declared while Dick just shook his head morosely. There was no point in trying to change the older man's mind but Jason liked to try anyway.

Dick waited for a scathing insult from Damian, directed at Jason for his remark but none came. He was too busy gulping down breakfast.

The teenager knew his adoptive father quite well so he was willing to place a bet that Bruce was going to use this time to interrogate Dick about his plans for tonight.

Bruce wasn't that interested in what Jason got up to in the dating arena but with Dick's history with Barbara Gordon, he had every reason to be worried.

Soon, they were out of the house. Tim had yelled shotgun which had relieved Dick to some extent. Bruce couldn't stare at him properly while he was sitting in the backseat.

Sometimes, his father's gaze felt really invasive as if he could decipher Dick just by staring at him long enough. And Dick wanted to hide from it.

He couldn't quite understand himself or the reasons why he did what he did, felt the way that he did. If he couldn't understand himself, he couldn't fix anything and he didn't want his father to uncover the broken parts of his soul.

Dick tried to make himself small as he was forced to sit between Jason and Damian who were bickering constantly.

'Dick? Dickie? DICK-HEAD?'

'Huh?' Startled, Dick stared at his brother.

Jason merely extended his fist. Dick grinned at the gesture and bumped his fist with his brother's. Damian rolled his eye at the _unbecoming_ action.

Dick knew that it was Jason's way of wishing him luck for the day that lay ahead of him.

In about no time or at least, it felt that way to him, Bruce had dropped off Damian and Tim.

'Dick, why don't you come sit in the passenger seat?' It wasn't a suggestion.

Jason made a show out of covering his ears with headphones, for which his brother was quite grateful.

Bruce started carefully. 'Son.'

Dick rolled his eyes and dutifully replied. 'Yes Bruce?'

'This girl, Camille? Are you sure about this?'

'Yeah. I mean, I think I am. But I'll talk to her…okay? Right off the bat, I'll tell her that I am not looking for anything serious.'

Bruce took his eyes off the road and studied his face.

Dick made sure to keep his expression neutral.

Finally Bruce gave up after a few agonizing seconds. 'I don't want _anyone_ to get hurt again.'

'Yeah, I learned my lesson.'

'I actually appreciate your point of view. But sometimes, others have different expectations…'

'I said I'll tell her, alright!?' Dick's annoyance slipped through in his tone.

'Okay. Just be careful.'

There was silence in the car after that.

* * *

'Hey, Camille!' He exclaimed as if he wasn't already expecting her arrival near the swimming pool.

'Dick! Hi.'

Her friend, Jess realized his intentions and made to leave. 'I'll see you later Cami.'

Camille watched her friend walk away with a slight smile on his face and then turned to face him.

'So, Cami huh?'

'Yeah. It's a _pretty_ common nickname.'

'Oh yeah? Well, Cami…I was wondering if you would like to grab some coffee with me tonight.' Dick didn't have to try to be charismatic.

'Sure, why not.' She twirled a strand of her strawberry blonde hair. '6 works for you?'

Dick nodded.

'Well, we can work out the details later on. We are about to practice.'

'Before you go, I just wanted to make one thing clear.' Dick's hesitation was quite apparent.

'What?' Camille inquired warily.

'Uhh…you see, I am not looking for anything serious.' The statement was phrased as a question.

'So…basically you want a fling, Grayson?' Her tone was casual.

'Eh, I wouldn't put it that way.' Dick rubbed his chin uncomfortably.

'That's exactly how I would put it.' After a pause, she shrugged. 'Okay.'

'Okay? You are fine with it then?'

'Yeah. Why not? Dude, I am not looking to have babies with you. You may be rich, smart, good-looking but you are not all that.'

'Ha. Ha. I guess I've got myself a date then.'

Camille smiled and reached up to kiss his cheek. She then quickly left to catch up with her teammates.

A huge smile unfolded on Dick's face. Yeah, he was going to have fun tonight.

* * *

'So, what's it like, having your dad bringing a new woman home every week?'

'Really?' Dick packed as much disdain as he could in that one word.

'Don't get me wrong. I am not judging him or anything. I am just curious.'

'Why would you be curious about this?'

'Oh man. You are _really_ defensive about this. It's just that my parents have been married for like 20 years now. I cannot imagine living a different kind of life.'

'Well, first of all, he doesn't bring all those women home. Secondly, it doesn't affect our lives really. Well, it's definitely weird if you come across a random woman in the middle of the night but Bruce is usually careful to keep these two parts of his life separate.'

Camille chuckled out of nowhere. Upon Dick's questioning gaze, she responded.

'Do you have any idea how different your actual life is from the sketches drawn in tabloids?'

'People shouldn't believe that bullshit.'

'They do anyway but what can you do.' Cami remarked nonchalantly and took a sip of her latte while Dick drank some of the weird concoction he had ordered.

'Dude, how can you do drink this?'

'You wanna try?' Dick offered the cup to her with a smirk on his face.

'No. I once ordered something similar on Jess' insistence and the amount of sugar alone, killed me. Now, I just stick to what I know and trust.'

'That is so sad.'

'I know, right? Just takes all the fun out of it, I should try new things and blah, blah. Heard the speech, don't care.'

'Can I give you the speech again, pleaseee?' Dick pleaded with mirth in his eyes.

Camille laughed and leaned back in her chair. 'Only if I get to give you a speech about the dangers of over-consumption of sugar.'

She uttered a satisfied 'thought so' upon seeing Dick's horrified face.

'Come on, that's so not fair. I hear the variations of this speech _every_ morning from Alfred, and Bruce too sometimes.'

'Who do you think gives _me_ the speech. My parents. They think I am too serious for my own good.'

'Aren't you, though?'

'I don't think so.'

'What's your idea of having fun then?'

Camille gave him a sheepish smile and said. 'Taking a nap.'

Dick threw his head back and chortled. 'You are one of those people!?'

'What do you mean, one of those people? Normal people love taking naps. It is the most amazing thing in the world.'

'How about I show you how to have some real fun?'

'Umm…that doesn't sound good.'

'You'll actually enjoy yourself.'

'Fine. Let's make a deal. You take a nap tomorrow. Tell me how it felt and then I'll _think_ about your offer.'

'No, I take a nap and then you go along with my ideas for a day. It's only fair.'

'Ugh…fine. I am sure I am going to regret it.'

'Maybe but you are definitely going to look back after 10 years and smile.'

'That is so cheesy.'

'It's true.' The sincere look on Dick's face stopped Camille from teasing him anymore.

* * *

'How did your date go?' Bruce addressed his son with an impassive look hiding his true feelings.

'It went great. She's really great.'

'I am glad to hear that.'

'You don't sound glad.' Dick muttered peevishly.

'Excuse me?'

'Come on Bruce. We all can hear the _I wish you hadn't enjoyed it_.' Dick's volume was nowhere near its maximum potential but it wasn't low either.'

Tim groaned while Damian shook his head and Jason threw his fork on the table.

It made a sharp noise which forced his elder brother by one year to look at him.

Jason threw him a pleading look but Dick ignored him. The rate of his heartbeat was increasing with the ticking of the clock.

He had set the wheels in motion and Bruce wasn't the one to back down from an argument.

However, everyone was surprised when Bruce replied in a calm manner.

'I am sorry if it came across that way. I am just worried about you. I want you to be happy, you know that.'

Tim released a breath he didn't know he was holding in. But he sucked in another one the next moment, when Dick exploded.

'Worried about me? I don't need you to worry about me. Why can't you all move on from what happened with Barbara?'

'Shut up Dick. Dad's trying to be compassionate here but you are just hell bent on ruining dinner like every other fucking week.' Jason's words had a far more deeper effect on his brother than his pleading look.

'Jay…I am sorry. I…I just want to close that chapter of my life. And you guys keep on reminding me of it. That's all. Dad, I am sorry.'

'It's alright Dick.' Bruce took a deep breath and looked at Jason.

'Seriously?'

'What?' Jason asked.

'You know what. Enough is enough. You need to mind your language. That's it, you are grounded for tomorrow.'

'What?' Jason repeated himself, although this time, he stuttered. 'Dickhead here can do whatever he feels like but I say one word and I am grounded?'

'How I choose to deal with your brothers is none of your concern.'

'You are just afraid of how he'll respond. Maybe I should start fighting with you like he does and then you'll stop haranguing me about stuff.'

'Enough!' Surprisingly, it wasn't Bruce who had ended Jason's tirade. All heads turned to looked at Alfred in shock.

'Shame on you Master Jason. Shame on you too, Master Dick. Dinner is a time for this family to come together and spend some quality time in peace. This is no proper way for young men to conduct themselves. Master Jason, you need to watch your language. Master Dick, you need to stop blaming your father for everything that goes wrong in your life and you should certainly stop fighting with him. Do you even think about how your actions affect your younger brothers? They shouldn't have to diffuse any arguments that you start or feel anxious about dinner because of your actions. If you have anything to say, say it in private. I normally would've lectured you alone but I think this approach is only appropriate in this scenario.'

By the time Alfred had stopped speaking, Dick's face was red. He looked down, refusing to meet anyone's eyes. Now he understood why Bruce had reacted so calmly. It was clear he too had been on the end of a classic Alfred smack down.

'Do you understand, young sir?'

Alfred's stern words forced him to look up. 'Yes Alfred, I do. I am sorry.'

'You need to apologize to your brothers.'

'I am sorry guys.' Dick said remorsefully.

His apology was followed by one uttered by Bruce.

The dinner went smoothly after that. Their issues hadn't been resolved by any extent but at least, Bruce and Dick were trying to be civil.

'Am I still grounded, Bruce?' Jason couldn't help himself.

'Yes.'

* * *

 **TBC...**

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